Western's Walker is laced and braced for the future

Jason Walker of Western High's boys basketball team is a player to keep an eye on this season. STEVEN GEORGES, FOR THE REGISTER

Quotable

"I'm not really the player that talks, but I show by actions, by giving high fives, because the team, they go about how my attitude is. If I'm happy, the team is going to be happy. If I'm mad, the team is going to play mad. I'm not a talking leader, but I show with my actions. And that helps the team, too."

"Every kid's dream is to play in the NBA. My dad said that you have to get through college first and get an education, maybe a free education, so that if you don't play basketball, you can still get a nice job and make some money."

– Jason Walker, Western High senior guard

"Jason, the guys look up to him. He's a likeable guy on campus, and so much of that starts at home. I really believe our team is a family. These kids are friends. Our guys, 1 through 10, they all know the pecking order. They understand that it's about the three guys who score most of our points. But at the same token, those top guys always take care of the Nos. 9 and 10 guys. We always talk about that – the No. 10 guy is just as important as our first guy."

– Joseph Aihara, Western High boys basketball coach

Jason Walker's best games of 2013-14

Date; Opponent; Points; Result

Dec. 20; Aliso Niguel; 28; W, 63-46

Dec. 6; Gahr; 27; W, 85-82

Dec. 26; Sunny Hills; 25; W, 76-67

Dec. 30; Eastlake; 24; L, 73-72

Dec. 14; Hueneme; 21; W, 71-42

Dec. 16; Bolsa Grande; 21; W, 85-52

It is impossible to notice at first, but there is definitely something different about Jason Walker.

It isn’t his silky jumper or the pair of pogo sticks on which he plays basketball. It’s neither his length nor athleticism.

Those attributes are ubiquitous these days; synonymous with this generation of college-bound prep athletes.

What makes Walker unique, rather, is something you don’t initially see when you watch him play.

“I’ve had braces for two years,” said Walker, a victim of the dreaded overbite. “Freshman year, my brother had braces, and my mom asked if I wanted to have them, too.

“I didn’t have anything to do, so I said, ‘Yeah, why not?’”

It’s that sort of ingenuity and naivety that makes rooting for Western High’s senior guard so easy.

“Two years later, and I still have them on,” Walker continued. “They look nice on me, though. They bring out my smile.”

Joseph Aihara laughed as he began to answer the question: “What makes Jay?”

It was a sincere gesture from Western’s longtime coach, and one that inferred his answer would come from years of asking himself the same thing.

“Jay’s a nice kid,” he said. “We’re blessed with a wonderful faculty and administration at Western, and the kids know there is great accountability in the classroom. The first thing teachers tell me is that they love having Jason, that he’s a great kid.”

Walker, the younger of two sons, remembered being 3 years old when his father introduced him to basketball.

Shawn Walker would watch Lakers games with his son, telling him to keep an eye on Kobe Bryant.

“My dad always put the game out there for me,” said Jason Walker, who ultimately modeled his game after Bryant. “He’d say, ‘I’m not putting this on you. If you want to play, you want to play.’

“He showed me how fun it could be, and also how sad it could be if you lose.”

Jason Walker began playing club basketball in middle school. He played for travel teams in Carson and Compton.

“I had to work on my weaknesses,” Walker said. “In recreational leagues you had kids playing to have fun. In club ball, it was competition. You were playing for something, and you had to get better.”

Jason Walker of Western High's boys basketball team is a player to keep an eye on this season. STEVEN GEORGES, FOR THE REGISTER
Western's Jason Walker, left, guards the ball from San Clemente's Elijah Morris during a game at the Estancia/Tustin Classic at Estancia High. MELINA PIZANO, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
Western's senior guard Jason Walker is averaging close to 20 points a game for the Pioneers this season. He is a top-20 scorer in Orange County. STEVEN GEORGES, FOR THE REGISTER
Western's Jason Walker, right, jumps to shoot a 3-pointer over Newport Harbor's Joey Faris during a Douglas Uselton Memorial Tournament Championship game at Oxford Academy. KYUSUNG GONG, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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